Farmers will bring their tractors to Cork Airport today (Monday, February 26) as part of the latest action in the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) ‘Enough is Enough’ campaign.
Early this morning farmers gathered at three locations: Little Island, the Anglers’ Rest and Fivemilebridge before heading for the airport on the Kinsale Road.
The protest will later culminate at Cork County Hall at 9:30a.m to coincide with a scheduled monthly meeting of Cork County Council.
Airport
Chair of Cork Central IFA Mathew Hurley said that the tractor convoy is heading for Cork Airport to highlight “the unfairness” of Dublin Airport seeking to grow passenger numbers by 25%, while farmers must cut their emissions by the same amount.
“As a nation, are we prioritising flights over food? It doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense.
“Farmers would like to expand and keep growing their business as Dublin Airport would,” he told Agriland.
Hurley said that there are “a lot of frustrations” for farmers which have led to demonstrations around the country in recent weeks.
“There’s problems with the nitrates directive and the way it is being implemented. Farmers aren’t given time to adjust. There’s a constant change in rules.
“There’s problems then with late payments, people still waiting for Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) payments,” he said.
Hurley said that the tractor convoy will make its way to Cork Airport and drive around outside for around a half an hour.
Ahead of today’s demonstration, Cork Airport issued a traffic advisory for passengers and commuters.
The airport said that drivers should allow extra time for their journeys on the approach roads to the facility on the Kinsale Road.
A spokesperson for Cork Airport said: “Like Ireland’s farming community, Dublin Airport Authority (daa) is playing its part in the national and global effort to address climate change.
“Both Cork and Dublin Airports have committed to reducing their Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 51% by 2030 – these are the emissions we have direct control over.
“We also continue to work closely with our airline partners to identify opportunities to reduce the carbon emissions that are under their direct control”.
Cork IFA
According to the chair of Cork Central IFA chair once the demonstration at the airport concludes the tractor convoy will make its way to Cork County Hall where the farmers will deliver a letter to Cork county councillors.
The letter lists the grievances of farmers and calls on councillors to back the IFA campaign.
Hurley said that they are hoping to address councillors directly at their meeting next month.
Last week, IFA president Francie Gorman called on the organisation’s members to continue its demonstrations over the coming weeks.
Gorman was speaking after a meeting with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on Thursday (February 22), in which an IFA delegation raised a number of issues.
According to Gorman, the recent actions by the IFA – which included a show of solidarity with farmers protesting in various parts of the EU, as well as demonstrations at some county council meetings – have been noticed by the Taoiseach.
“It was the clear message to the Taoiseach that we need immediate delivery on these issues and the message to our own members on the ground is keep up the actions over the the next number of weeks in the lead up to the elections,” he said.